Jurrien Timber carried Arsenal's attack in Champions League vs. Leverkusen, and that's a problem for Gunners

In the year 2026, there are reasons why you might want your full back to play an outsized role in your attack. Maybe they have the generational passing ability of Trent Alexander-Arnold, the final ball precision of Federico Dimarco (yes, I know he is at least a wing back for Inter, but just indulge me), or is an unstoppable force a la Gabriel Magalhaes. When you're charged with breaking down an organised defense as often as Arsenal are, you'll often find that your fullbacks are your free men, well placed to add a smattering more threat in the final third.

Having said all that, it is still not entirely clear that Jurrien Timber and Piero Hincapie each registering as many penalty box touches as Viktor Gyokeres, Bukayo Saka, and anyone else on the field contributed to Arsenal in their underwhelming 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen (four, all from open play). Or at least contributed in a positive sense. Even before they found themselves battling to overturn Robert Andrich's headed opener, Arsenal saw plenty of the ball and territory.

And yet, Kai Havertz's 89th-minute penalty was just their sixth shot of the game, only the second they had had in a stretch of over 40 minutes. Timber got the other, and the involvement of the right back in Arsenal's build-up did rather feel like it had a decelerative effect on the Gunners' attack. There were reasons why the ball should come to both him and Hincapie with such frequency. Bayer Leverkusen's three-man central defense invited runs on the wide edges of the box, and that is space that Arteta often asks his fullbacks to fill while his wingers keep the touchline chalk on their boots. Still, Noni Madueke's driving late run to force the penalty did make the case for forwards in forward positions.

Tonight was not a case of Timber lacking industry or indeed even a sense of where he should be standing. A first-time flick by Martin Zubimendi found Timber in a good spot just inside the box. His first touch got the ball out from his feet, and his second drilled a cross into the first man.

That was rather the story of the night. It should be noted that over the course of the season, Timber has had some very good attacking moments that have led to four goals and six assists. A player who picks out the pass for Viktor Gyokeres' first against Tottenhamis clearly not a scrub in the attacking third. Arguably Arsenal's best one-on-one defender is a good passer, can clip a ball from the byline when required, but he is not the guy you'd want the ball coming to in the prime real estate around the opposition goal. Certainly, you wouldn't want to see Timber average more penalty area touches per 90 minutes across all competition than Eberechi Eze, Mikel Merino, Martin Odegaard or Declan Rice.

...Aah. That's the befuddling thing about what felt like Timber's outsized involvement in the attack on Wednesday night. It was not really that out of the norm. The ball keeps coming to him in the penalty area and with greater frequency than any other Arsenal full back in their years of contention. 

When Ben White was the dream third wheel for Odegaard and Bukayo Saka he didn't average two touches in the box. When Oleksandr Zinchenko was anywhere but in his own back line, 1.5. The only player who even gets close to Timber -- and he's still at 10% fewer touches per 90 in the Premier League -- is Riccardo Calafiori. And, well, he's Riccardo Calafiori. When you strike the ball as handsomely as he does, by all means, explore the opposition penalty area.

Drill deeper into Timber's touches and of course you will find plenty in open play by the byline. Those are, of course, valid for a right back. A fair wedge of those you see in the six-yard box are off set pieces, where Timber is an underrated tyro. 

The question for Arsenal really is about those touches close to the D, just inside the area. Would Timber be getting quite so many of those if Odegaard were in the team? Those are some of the spots where the Arsenal club captain weaves his magic with Saka, whose off-colour display at the Bay Arena might just have been a function of having no one to replicate that alchemy he has with the Norwegian. What evidence we have is that Timber's total penalty box touches don't drop with Odegaard in the team, though those he does have don't seem to be quite so involved at that key playmaking spot.

It wouldn't be the only place on the field that Arsenal have been missing their No.8, whose standing within the fanbase seems to be utterly out of sync with the performances he has delivered in a second consecutive injury-addled season. Without a natural playmaker to dictate the tempo, the Gunners found themselves playing in the horseshoe of the apocalypse, endless passes cycled around the flanks and the edge of the final third with no one, least of Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres, able to pick the ball up in dangerous spots around the box.

When the ball isn't really advancing where you want it to go it is perhaps unsurprising that you end up dumping possession off on those that you really don't want to construct attacks to the benefit of. That might be an explanation for why Arsenal ran such a Timber-heavy attack tonight. However why one of this team's least dangerous attackers keeps getting so many prime attacking touches throughout this season is one of those joyously weird aspects of this esoteric, eventually effective side.